Humanist Counter-Theory in the Age of Misandry

Adventures in damseling: remembering Shannon Faulkner

(AUTHOR’S NOTE:I wrote this piece in the Spring of 1995 in my past life as a columnist for the University Of Arizona Daily Wildcat. It first appeared in the April 21, 1995 issue. The original link is here.

For those who don’t recall the story, or are from other countries, Shannon Faulkner sued a school called The Citadel on the grounds that the military-structured private college’s all-male admissions policy was unconstitutional. She had won admission after submitting an application that omitted any reference to her gender, and the school rescinded their acceptance letter. Judge C. Weston Houck ruled in her favor in 1993, but Faulkner was only allowed to attend day classes, not full cadet activities pending appeal. After The Citadel’s appeal was denied, Faulkner was the first woman to attend the institution with full cadet privileges… and responsibilities. It’s the responsibilities part that was, well, problematic in her eyes [sound familiar?]

For her part, Faulkner did endure opprobrium and scorn on a massive scale, including some death threats and written threats to her safety, all of which cannot be excused. In the face of the criticism, Faulkner quit the program after five days.

The institution continues to admit women, and there is still friction from male cadets, some blatantly sexist, but others questioning the relaxed hazing and initiation standards women are still held to. This focuses on how Faulkner set those standards with her demands to be “more equal than others.” Read On.)

Faulkner should conform

Imagine fighting for the right to skydive, and deciding after the jump that you don’t want to hit the ground.

Pretty silly, right?

Well, imagine someone fighting to get into a private military academy where no head goes unshaved, where there are no locks on doors, where no earrings, tattoos, makeup or other expressions of individuality are allowed, getting in, and wanting to wear a ponytail, have locks put on her door, have her own shower, flaunt her individuality, and saying with a straight face, “I want the full experience of this institution.” People would be quite within their rights to question this person’s honesty.

Well, this duplicitous description belongs to one Shannon Faulkner, the young woman who was ordered to be the first female cadet in the 150-plus year history of the Citadel. Now, it seems, she will embark on a new mission; to become the first maverick at an institution whose rules conscript uniformity.

Shannon doesn’t get it. Her supporters don’t either.

This is not the State U., where the atmosphere encourages dissent. At the Citadel, conformity is mandated.

Shannon’s supporters say that the demand for Shannon to shave her head is a deliberate attempt to make her miserable, thus deterring future female applicants, and that it exemplifies the backlash that awaits all women who dare to buck tradition.

They don’t get it.

Imagine the first black cadet coming in with dreadlocks and demanding they not be cut, on the grounds that it is punitive. How absurd would that be?

The purpose of the tradition of freshman subjugation is to make them miserable. Ironically, this specter of misery is what draws new cadets. The idea is to persevere and sacrifice to the whole, thereby strengthening the mind and the soul. That is the Citadel mission. Without these rules, it ceases to be the Citadel Shannon purports she is so anxious to experience.

Supporters of Faulkner complain of incessant stubbornness of the “Ol’ Boy Network.” But most of these same people had a collective conniption fit when the administration at Mills College in California decided to admit men in 1989. We saw images of women sobbing like they were at a funeral. Where were the cries of “equal access” then? Traditionally black colleges admit whites. Fact is, women’s groups want to end all-male education, but at the same time want to have their own spaces where men can’t enter. At last count, these spaces numbered 84, including Mills, whose trustees eventually ran scared and reversed themselves. The rationale for this toxic sexism toward men is that women often are short-changed in a co-ed atmosphere, and need a place to develop self-confidence.

I don’t get it.

This is 1995. Where have these women been hiding?

Most men and women want women to have access to all avenues in life they are willing and able to pursue. But equality is a tricky business, and being seen as an equal is not always fun. Equality can mean having to sacrifice, endure, and sometimes, be humiliated by the group. It is under these circumstances where all too many people expect women to be pampered. It seems that some women only see equality as something uplifting; something that boosts confidence, and gives one a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It is disturbing to men against sexism that some women, when things get tough or call for sacrifice, insist on falling back on the same archaic “fairer sex” stereotypes and gender dichotomies feminism tried so hard to eradicate. The paradox is that so-called feminists want these allowances to be made.

Repeat refrain

Men get these mixed signals and become frustrated, and, as a result, often don’t take women seriously.

In this case, Faulkner and her supporters think she is rightly entitled to the full Citadel package with only partial payment. Does anyone truly believe having her hair cut will scar her for life? If so, why did she apply there in the first place?

Because Shannon Faulkner is a poser. She wants to tailor the Citadel to meet her needs, not to become a cadet. If she did, her first questions after the first decision would’ve been, “Where’s the barber, where’s my uniform, and where’s my room?”, and not “Do I have to cut my hair?”

But Shannon can prove all of the critics wrong, even those at the Citadel. Instead of being a whiner, be a cadet. Endure the first year, insisting on being with the men and enduring the same humiliation. Move up in the ranks, graduate with honors. Whether you believe it or not, men, particularly military men, respect a woman who can take it and still dish it back. If you do the things mentioned above, you will get respect. And, oh yeah, cut the hair.

An original, pre-internet combatant in the campus rhetorical wars against victim feminism as a student columnist on the campus that is an original hub of the Sexual Hysteria Industrial Complex, The University Of Arizona. I'm back in the game, for keeps, to use my platform and inside knowledge from studying these issues since I was a 18yo college freshman in 1990, and having been on the ass-end of false accusations culture. My blog focuses on athletics and how the gender issues intersect with them. His blog is sportsdroppingsusa.blogspot.com

Sorry. Shannon Faulkner is a hero – she fought against gender segregation, regardless of not adhering to all norms of the Citadel. What she did is nearly as important as trying to get males in all-female educational institutions.

Oh, yeah, the ones where they’re generally viewed as possible pedophiles or rapists.
You may not have noticed, but there’s not many men who actually _wants_ to get into those institutions anymore.
‘Gee, I wonder why?’ o.0

Legion

Their ethos may be pathetic, but you don’t go to someone else’s party and demand they play your damn music.

Glenn Donovan

And it’s much, much worse today. I remember the story but never heard that she lasted only 5 days – no surprise, such an environment tests mettle in a very masculine way, a way that most women can’t handle. Similarly, we don’t hear about the absurd outcomes elsewhere. I was listening to a Marine talk the other day and he was commenting about women in combat. Apparently the fembots had fought to get the right to enter the Marine’s very tough Combat Infantry Officer training program and after many discussions about how it simply not suited, the Marines relented with the condition that none of the requirements be lessened as they have in other military schools.

The result? In the several years since not many women have applied and fewer excepted. Out of those who did get excepted not a single woman made it through the first day – they all bailed out voluntarily. Hmmm, why don’t I hear about this in the news? Why isn’t this reported? Why can’t we deal with reality?

I became interested in military history a while back and read an intro, academic text on the history of the military and military training. Turns out that all competitive sports have evolved from this kind of training. One of the aspects of the psychology of the military is that they are separate from the rest of us, not like civilian society. And this makes sense – soldiers are asked to do things that could be considered heinous in other contexts. They suffer and administer brutality in ways that mainstream society is not conditioned to understand. So, from the outset, the rules of society don’t apply in much of their “society’.

The culture encourages one to repress one’s own needs in favor of the collective. It values aggression and toughness, not emotions – purposefully. Breaking down on the battlefield and crying when your buddy dies next to you could get you and your other brothers in arms killed if you can’t do your job under that kind of emotional stress. As well, the combat culture centers around physical fitness and prowess. Combat units do PT constantly and are graded on it. Those who do poorly get the worst duty and those who are most fit get the best assignments, passes and promoted more rapidly. It punishes and rewards perhaps “unfairly’ as genetics are part of fitness, but nobody complains because the connection between fitness and combat ability is clear to everyone involved and on the battlefield it makes a huge difference.

It’s also, since the dawn of time, always been a ‘work hard/play hard’ culture. Getting drunk and having ribald adventures on leave is part of it. It’s also been part of the deal that it’s a reprieve from the world and a place where men can be men. It’s part of the bargain. They don’t have to pretend to respect the weak or the meek. They don’t have to be polite or spend much time worrying about others feelings, but rather focus on respect and character. Honor and integrity are what matter, not self-esteem and making everyone happy. Self sacrifice is central.

It turns out martial values are mostly male values for a reason and it works to make an army obedient and effective when in combat instead of turning and running. All our efforts in the military should be to sharpen the sword – and if that means excluding women, too bad. I just don’t care. Why other people fail to see this amazes me.

tamerlame

“soldiers are asked to do things that could be considered heinous in other context”

I don’t get that statement. Killing is still killing, following orders without thinking is abdicating moral responsibility whatever the context.

Martial values are mostly male, because it is males who are brutalized and used as cannon fodder, it is that simple. Men should simply refuse to play that role for the state, a state that treats men with contempt.

yurlungur

If a man fails to meet the grade we simply say he didn’t have what it takes, but when it’s a woman people assume it is because of sexism that she failed.

I think people should look at the individual first.

yurlungur

Look what happens to the atheist community: these women come in and claim abuse –
they demand the place be changed to suit them.

If we did live in some sort of patriarchy you would expect these issues to be ignored not exaggerated;
Kind of like what happens with male issues: they either don’t exist or are a joke.

Just look what happened with Anita Snakeskin: gaming media journalists practically fell over themselves to white knight for her.
Sexism against females is real; Sexism against males is a joke.

You can not go a weak (maybe even a day) without some sort of ‘female’ issue being raised by the MSM. i.e
men won’t let women barbeque. those articles are simply there to make women feel persecuted and hateful towards men.

Even at a low level men and boys are told we must to help females we have to encourage them to join in;
The opposite happens when males join female dominated groups.

“Put up and shut up”

Alphabeta Supe

It really doesn’t matter that Shannon lasted only 5 days. Most women seem to feel they are the rightful recipients of all things created by men, irrespective of any constructive or useful reason for having those things, so I suspect Shannon’s real goal was not to attend the school or complete her study but to be the first woman to get in. Just because.

I suspect that all women are driven by this sense of entitlement to some extent. It certainly seems like part of nature’s balancing mechanism. But human beings are prone to perversion and that sense of entitlement seems to turn bad and unhealthy when driven by the selfish rebellion and moral panic caused by feminism. This perversion of the feminine imperative has reached a point where even a healthy woman’s actions are no longer driven by social cohesion, justice, mercy and faith but by an unholy mixture of defiance, rebellion, anti-self-loathing, narcissism and self-importance.

Shannon’s actions are no doubt seen by feminists as another celebrated ‘first’ by a woman – a great victory even if it was nonsensical and destructive. She’ll also be remembered in Citadel history as a trailblazer for women regardless of the negative impacts on the society that felt it necessary to resist her enrollment. There will be no talk of why a comparable school for women wasn’t created by feminists.

The challenge for men is to avoid resentment and despair over these perverse actions but to uphold masculinity, maintain social cohesion, do what’s necessary to prevent the rebels and their goads from causing harm.

And don’t forget to have faith. God >> feminism. The end of feminist governance is assured if truth is upheld.

Kimski

Willfull negligence and denial of one of the allegedly more female empowering scenes in G.I.Jane.
You can almost imagine Shannon Faulkner chanting: “You go, girl!”

Until it’s her turn, after which it is straight back to comfort of the victim role.

Shannon Faulkner: “I want the full experience of this institution.”

Sergeant: (ROFL!) “Yeah, I’m sure you do….-There’s a lot of things you want, isn’t there…? You can start by getting down in the dirt and make yourself a foxhole. I want it done in 45 minutes, tops!”

This is the ridiculousness and audacity of some women. There is no gender in the military, there are only soldiers. If women want to become soldiers they should be held to the same standards as the men. No exceptions.

Paul Johnson

I don’t understand where a judge’s authority to issue injunctions to private entities comes from.

Mr. Sungame

Don’t we sort of see the same in “nerd culture” and other “male dominated cultures”?
Woman force their way into a fandom, proclaiming they just want to play/watch/listen/interact on the same field, because they like it too, and as soon as they are on the inside they want special treatment, because vagina.

Shannon Faulkner could have been a hero to both men and woman, if she had gotten in and endured equally with other students. But she chose to whimper and whine about how she was “mistreated”, even though I am sure the men there either endured the same or worse treatment.
But men are taught to endure, take the crap and succeed despite of it. What did Shannon Faulkner do? Quit apparently. Some “hero” she is.

MGTOW-man

“In the face of the criticism, Faulkner quit the program after five days.”

—I met this woman even though she will likely not remember me. I overheard some conservation too. She quit because she was not physically fit to endure the rigors of the citadel…unless the standards are lowered. (but of course…this is true equality huh? Duuuuh Women just DO NOT GET IT…it isn’t about feelings). Her purpose was hating men and destroying “male privilege”—something feminists and probably most women in general are VERY CONFUSED about.

MGTOW-man

“Imagine the first black cadet coming in with dreadlocks and demanding they not be cut, on the grounds that it is punitive. How absurd would that be?”
—Exactly!

Another purpose of short hair, if any at all, is hygeine, soured hair, ticks, lice, chiggers, etc. I guess women do not acquire any of these problems and that bucking the system is more important. THOSE women do not get it. But they want their way all the time no matter the fallout. THAT is the problem.

Kimski

Your life can actually depend on having short hair.
In a close combat situation it is far easier to grab a hold of a long hair and subdue you or slit your throat.

Despite the popurlar descriptions of roaming Vikings with long hair, they very often cut their hair short, before going off to war or pillaging. Normally only their slaves were accquired to wear it short. The tradition is believed to go all the way back to the ancient Greeks and the Spartans.

During WW1, both men and women in equal numbers would have short hair, as a sign of honoring the war effort.

MGTOW-man

Poor hygiene, along with diseases, (health, or the lack thereof) killed more soldiers than bullets during previous wars of yesteryear. Hygiene is critical to the success of any army. Pity we modern people fail to see this important fact. Any time we allow women to enter via lower standards, omissions of fact and inconvenient natural truth, as well as buck systems intended to help us win wars, we weaken our military. This isn’t a matter of opinion. Feelings of “inclusiveness for women” just do not make it OK to turn our backs on our world’s future. But of course, I “hate women” all because I am THIS honest, pro-species, and natural-truth appreciating.

If men wanted to grow longer hair in the military…well…we all know what would happen. THAT is the point—not feelings.

Having said this, given the way things are now—with hatred of males and with feminists dominance and shut-out of truth—I am on the side of women in the military so that when they lead this country, it is balanced and noble that they can also lose their life for it in theory. Nothing wrong with fairness, right?

As long as they cut their hair. I mean, I love my hair, but if I were going to war, I’d cut it. I mean, at some point one has to be practical. If I’m going to war, chances are I’m not going to have my hair products and nobody’s going to care if my hair has the right wave or not. I think we can revile the feminists for their universal lack of practicality and for their demands that womyn-born-womyn privilege transcend things that they’ve even specifically asked for.

it is balanced and noble that they can also lose their life for it in theory.

Heh, fairness. One would think. I only wish that womyn-born-womyn could understand fairness and become aware of their privileges.

Shannon’s supporters say that the demand for Shannon to shave her head is a deliberate attempt to make her miserable,

Welcome to male privilege, sister! Hope you like it! Now I know I’ve got a genie around here somewhere, maybe I can whip up a wish that will turn individuals like you into men, so that when you complain about such things, there will be feminists to tell you to STFU, because you’re privileged! Isn’t that what you want?! /sarcasm

MGTOW-man

How come so many men fail to see that this is not just a feminist thing, but a woman thing. While NAWALT, the vast majority are. It seems that men want to lie to themselves so they can pretend they do not see this truth.

There is NO male privilege and it is so damned obvious that even a drunken cat on crack can understand it. So why is it that women can’t? Just how can they not see this? Still rake in all the exploited benefits made possible by men’s apparent awesome love of women?

Folks this isn’t going away until men make women see themselves and get them to stop being they way they are. Sounds real “positive”, I know, but it is the truth.

Change men and you change the world.

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